Overview
- Jackson died Tuesday at age 84, with his family announcing his passing and no specific cause disclosed.
- Rainbow PUSH noted his long neurological decline, including a 2017 Parkinson’s diagnosis and recent observation for progressive supranuclear palsy after hospital stays.
- A close protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., he witnessed King’s 1968 assassination, led Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, and later founded Operation PUSH and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
- His 1984 and 1988 presidential runs broadened Democratic coalitions, boosted minority voter registration, and helped drive delegate rule changes that later benefited candidates such as Barack Obama.
- Beyond U.S. activism, he secured prisoner releases in Syria, Cuba, Iraq, and Serbia, served as President Bill Clinton’s special envoy to Africa, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.